Bad Dreams In The Night (open)

Soft music sounded throughout the speakers of the quaint Starbucks restaurant as one last couple sat drinking their warm cups of coffee. Anastasia, a young woman of a mere 17 years of age stood behind the counter patiently waiting for the couple to leave so she could begin closing down. She had volunteered, as she usually did, to be the one to close up for the night and, as usual, the tiredness she felt in her bones reminded her that she would be regretting it when she had to get up for school in a few hours. She closed her eyes, long black lashes gently brushing against her cheekbones from the gesture as she pictured what tomorrow had in store for her. It was always the same old boring routine for her day in and day out. School, work, studying, maybe 3 hours of sleep, and then repeat. The only thing that had changed recently was the things she saw in the streets not only at night but during the day. At night she could always attribute it to her lack of sleep, she was certain she was just crazy in some way...at least that's what her mom had made her believe for so many years of her life, however she couldn't just keep ignoring it. Sometimes they even looked at her as if they recognized she could see them. That was the worst part of it all, that was when she got shivers up her spine that made her hair stand on end.

"Um, excuse me Miss, we're done here." The woman's soft spoken voice brought Anastasia out of her thoughts as she opened her grayish green eyes and smiled apologetically. In an automatic motion that showed hours of practice she took the couples bill, gave them back their change, waited for them to leave, then collected her tip and finished up by cleaning up the mess they had made. Most who came to a place like Starbucks usually knew to clean up after themselves but sometimes the stragglers that hung around at midnight or later were too worried about heading home and tended to forget. Anastasia didn't mind though, as much as she enjoyed living away from her devil of a mother she didn't enjoy the loneliness that came with living on ones own. At least when she was at work she was surrounded by others who could somewhat see her as normal. Her bright cotton candy locks were much more accepted in New York than they had been in her home town. What was seen to them as eccentric was seen to New Yorkers as an everyday occurrence which made her glad.

As the song on the radio switched to a more upbeat one Anastasia found it in herself to get out the broom and begin sweeping. She was more or so dancing around the coffee shop rather than sweeping, her body moving with the tempo of the beat as she mouthed the familiar words. When you practically lived at your job it wasn't hard to memorize practically every song that played on the radio. They kept it on the same radio station since it played the most popular songs of today. Her hair flinging about her face Anastasia busied herself cleaning up around the restaurant, it was the times like these she enjoyed the most. The loneliness filled with the sound of music, smell of coffee, hot chocolate, and chai tea, along with the warmth of the heat filled room. It was a magic all in it's own, one could almost imagine they were in a large library of sorts surrounded by millions of books, all the book you could ever want and hope to read.

Anastasia's false happiness was broken when her eyes drifted to look out the window and she started seeing them. It always happened more at night which is what caused her to hate working these hours, however she had no other choice. Living on her own in an apartment in New York City and trying to balance school at the same time made working other hours impossible and she needed the money. She could barely afford an adequate amount of food along with rent and all of her other necessities as it was. Swallowing noisily she finished her task of cleaning and turning everything off except what was needed kept on to keep everything fresh. She threw on her hoodie and looked back outside and that's when she noticed one of them was staring at her. She stared back, and when whatever it was noticed her recognition it made a sort of gesture as if it were surprised she could see it, in turn she quickly turned her head and clutched the knife that she had begun bringing with her everywhere she went since she moved and started working night shift.

With a quickness she had adopted only recently Anastasia locked the store's doors, her fingers fumbling as they began to grow numb from the cold. She tried to ignore all of the faces swarming around her because she knew if she paid too close attention she would see the ones that didn't belong. The ones with red eyes, cat eyes, blue skin, purple skin, fangs, wings, all of the things you would only hear of in fairy tales. She rubbed her fists against her eyes and shook slightly as her legs mechanically carried her forward towards her apartment. Come on, get it together girl, it's all in your head, it's just your imagination, lack of sleep. Once you get sleep everything will be okay, you'll see. You're not crazy. The same lies over and over again, day in and day out, but it's all she could do to keep herself going.

Esmeralda moved swiftly down the street, her peach floor length dress only just scuffing over the grey, stained pavement. She swore lightly under her breath as she saw that the coffee shop was just closing it's doors. The employee was already moving away from the shop at a high enough speed. She was so used to the routine of coming to the coffee shop just before closing that the idea of not being able to get her hands on a steaming mug distressed her. Usually she was much earlier, but today she had gotten a particularly fussy customer. After a while of watching the clock tick closer and closer to closing time as the client fussed on and on in the background of her mind, Esmeralda had finally had to kick the fussy creature out.She was glamored well enough to hide her peculiar form from prying eyes, but it could easily be stripped away by any Downworlder or Shadowhunter who happened to look her way. She inclined her head in greeting to some of her better known clients. She sped up her pace, trying to catch the eye of the employee, to see if she could get some of their coffee. Sure, she could quite easily magic a steaming mug into her smooth, long fingers, that just didn't feel right to her. "Uh, hello?" she called out to the employee. "Do you work there?" she asked as she ran her hand through her thick, silver blonde hair. She had no need to brush her waist length, she could just put the hairs back in place and keep it soft with a small charm. The petals she adorned it with could also be kept quite easily in place. ((I feel bad. My post is so short compared to yours!))

Anastasia was about half way towards her home, half way towards her false safety where she could hide out in the warmth when she heard a soft whimsical voice call out to her. She stopped in her tracks immediately and tilted her head to the side wondering if she was hearing things in her current state of anxiousness when the voice spoke again. "Do you work there?" The question convinced Anastasia that whoever it was definitely must be speaking to her. She figured they were a late comer and watched her leave Starbucks. Chewing on her bottom lip like it was a piece of candy Anastasia turned around to answer the woman's question and immediately was at a loss for words. Her eyes grew wide in shock and she let out a quick breath as she noticed that the woman speaking to her seemed as if she were...part deer. The antlers sprouting out of her head adorned with beautiful flowers were hard to miss along with the ears sticking out in front of them and the small and cute deer nose along with very wide doe like eyes set on her face. Anastasia couldn't help but stare in wide eyed shock as she took in this woman's features, not only did it appear that she was part deer but she was also very tall and in a way that intimidated Anastasia.Her green eyes flashed around looking at the faces of the people around her and wondering why they didn't seem to be as shocked as her about seeing some deer woman walking on the streets. It's because they can't see them, you're crazy...she thought quietly to herself, soon after shaking her head in disagreement. Okay okay maybe I am crazy...I'm just going to close my eyes, count to three, and then she will be gone! Okay? Okay. Anastasia closed her eyes tightly and counted to three silently in her head before opening them back up and...low and behold the deer woman was still there and still watching her waiting for her to answer. Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn! Well I might as well answer her and see what happens."I..uh..yes I-I do work there. I just closed about five minutes ago...wh-which you probably noticed. Is..is there something I can help you with?" She talked quickly and quietly her words coming out a little jumbled and nervous. Her eyes were staring at the ground instead of up at the woman's face for fear that she might cause a scene by freaking out more because of what she saw. She hated it when her mind played tricks on her.

Esmeralda didn't seem to notice the change in the woman's demeanor. She wasn't all that good when it came to social situations. She was slightly puzzled at the fact the the woman had squeezed her eyes shut, like she had seen something that she hadn't wanted to. She caught herself when she noticed that her left hand had gone up to the base of one of her antlers. As she tried to cover her mistake up by making it look like she was smoothing down her hair she nodded. "Do you think I could have some more coffee?" she asked. She might have been able to cast a spell on the woman to convince her to open up shop again, but Esmeralda usually liked seeing how the mundanes would react to her questions. She pulled her mop of hair over her shoulder and gripped at it, a nervous tick she had been practicing since her hair was long enough to fall over her shoulders. "You aren't busy, are you?" her eyes fluttered gently, she had found that this trick would work just as well on woman as it did on their male counterparts. Esmeralda held her hair, tugging on it slightly as she waited for the mundane to reply. She still couldn't shake the feeling that the mundane was looking at her for reasons other than her magic induced good looks. (Haha, okay. I have trouble writing long paragraphs without rambling on about unnecessary details. I'm working on it though!)

Anastasia's eyes shifted slightly as she watched the woman begin to reach for one of her antlers, the woman quickly corrected herself by fluttering her hands towards her long willowy white blonde hair. She noticed the woman ran her fingers through it in an almost nervous gesture and her lips twitched slightly forming what could have been seen as a slight smile. She tended to do the same thing with her hair when nervous, either that or stuttering and fidgeting a lot which is what she was doing right now. The fact that the woman has just reached for one of her antlers made Anastasia believe even more that what she was seeing must be true and that somehow this woman had to have real antlers. She guessed it might be possible for someone to get some type of cosmetic surgery to alter their appearance in that way, the world was a strange place and technology was advancing at a rapid pace. Either that or she was crazy, part of her just wanted to believe that she was crazy as she always had so she could move on with her life. As long as I don't end up in one of those mental facilities..."Do you think I could have some more coffee?" the woman asked her in her quiet sing song voice. Anastasia ran a hand through her long hair as she turned her head the opposite way looking back towards her apartment. She had just ended a rather daunting ten hour shift and was eager to crawl into bed, plus she wasn't accustomed to opening back up after closing for one random costumer. "You aren't busy, are you?" Anastasia watched as the woman played with her hair and fluttered her eyes, wondering why it was that this woman couldn't go somewhere else to get coffee. "I-um no..I'm not busy. But I don't think..I don't think I'm supposed to open back up after closing..." Anastasia muttered the words quietly as her eyes flicked from the girls antlers, back to her face, back to her antlers, and then back to her face again. She shoved her hand into her pocket and played with the key there wondering what it was she should do. She was afraid if she denied this woman the right to her coffee that she might end up dead. Even though she had a knife she wasn't sure how well it would do against someone crazy enough to get antlers implanted into their head. Still, if worse came down to worse she hoped those defense classes she took for years would come in handy. "I-well...I guess I can open back up, but only this one time. Next time if you want a coffee you need to try and get here before closing, okay? I'll make you your coffee and then you'll have to leave right after. No sitting inside or anything." After Anastasia finished speaking she began walking back towards the diner without checking to see if she was being followed. She knew it wasn't kind of her to do so but her nerves were shot and she was so jittery and all she wanted was to get this nightmare over with so she could go home. Her brain seriously needed some down time. Shaking slightly she unlocked the door to Starbucks and held it open as she waited for the woman to walk inside.

Esmeralda's shaped eye brows knitted together as she saw the girl trace her antlers with wide, slightly scared eyes. She couldn't have been a shadow hunter with her obviously shocked reaction, and she didn't look at all like any downworlder the warlock had ever seen. Esmeralda's brain quickly worked out a plan to see just exactly why this mundane looking girl could see through the glamor. "Thank-you" she said, regaining her composure at the girls reply. "I guess I should give you a larger tip, as social curtsy suggests" she smiled, following the girl back to the coffee shop. "And you won't get in trouble for reopening the shop" Esmeralda smiled, casting a glamor to make mundanes forget seeing the two girls, and to hide the fact that there would be some activity in the coffee shop. Putting her plan into action, Esmeralda hitched up her long floor length dress to just above where a normal persons knee would have been placed, clearly displaying her oddly formed, furred legs to the girl next to her. "I'm Esmeralda by the way" she added on as they were nearing the coffee shop. She extended a lithe, gloved hand in the girls direction. "You are?". Esmeralda could clearly see the woman's name displayed on her glossy name tag, but she thought it would be considered slightly more appropriate if she asked rather than assumed. Esmeralda tapped her hoof on the ground, drawing attention to it. To any mundane who's attention should be drawn, despite the glamor it would look like the low, hollow sound was resonating from a small piece of wood, presumably from one of the older shops rotting signs,bumping against the brick exterior of the coffee shop.